100 Years Gone, Bye George

I’m repeating myself. Of course, these posts are all about repeating stories from the past. But this time I’m using a photo that I’ve used before. Twice before, actually. It’s just such a great photo, though. I really need to get a good print of this photo, by George. Those eyes mesmerize me.

The occasion for posting this photo again is that May 3, 2019, is the 100th anniversary of the death of our George. That would be my great great grandfather George Henry Hine. My mother was Betty Lou Bucklin Landry. Her father was Fred D. Bucklin. His mother was Addie May Hine Bucklin, the oldest child of George. George got married to Susan G. (Grandma Sue or just Sue) Stanbrough on October 12, 1873, in Hamilton County, Indiana. Besides having my great grandmother Addie, they had five sons.

The family was from Indiana and lived there until 1894. I’ve shared photos of the family in Indiana before, but recently I found some more history of George’s family in Indiana. I knew that Sue’s Stanbrough family had moved to Indiana from Ohio around 1830. I also knew that the Hine family had moved to Indiana from North Carolina around 1835. But George’s mother was Malina Cox and the Cox family name was a recent discovery. I found that Malina’s father was Benjamin Cox, who was born in 1796. In an old book about Boone County, Indiana, it had a small mention of the family moving to Indiana from North Carolina in 1829.

So sixty years later the Hine family – at least the George Henry Hine family – made their way south to Louisiana. They homesteaded in Jefferson Davis Parish around China. In a letter I shared previously from May of 1916, Sue wrote about how George had come close to dying on May 2 (1915). He was doing quite well in 1916 as a result of quitting his medicines and drinking cold water. (Per Grandma Sue’s letter.) She talks about how Addie and the family had moved back to Louisiana after their stint in Arkansas. She was also glad that their son Roe lived close by and could answer their ring when they needed something.

I always thought it was so sweet that Sue’s son Rowe (Roe) lived so close and could help them out in their older years. But then I realized that Rowe died only four months after that May 1916 letter was written. Like my sister Jodie, he died at the age of 36. And I’m sure his death must have impacted their family as it did ours. I’m sure that bell she mentioned in the letter was one of the bittersweet reminders of her son.

Then came that fateful day 100 years ago when George passed away after he and Sue had been married for 45 years. He was 72 years, 5 months, 6 days old. As Sue would say a few years later when speaking of her brother’s death, “the Death angel came for him.” The newspaper article that gave notice of his death talked about how much George suffered his last few years.

So Grandma Sue was probably thinking of her dear George when she wrote that letter to family about her brother’s death. Even though she wasn’t specifically writing about George, the words probably fit her sentiment about her husband’s death, “I was glad he did not have to suffer (any longer). and of course we all have that debt to pay sooner or later.”